How to save money on groceries
Save money on groceries with these clever hacks.
problem solved
Matthew Hall is trying to stretch his grocery budget and save up to replace his aging car amid rising food prices and general inflation.
Hall regularly uses an app called Too Good to Go to find great discounts on groceries.
Hall and other shoppers use these services, which connect consumers with grocery stores, cafes and restaurants, to solve food affordability issues and promote sustainability by reducing food waste.
“For sustainability and keeping things out of landfills, I use it for things I can use to prepare meals to keep costs down,” Hall, 25, of Durham, North Carolina, told USA TODAY. “This is good for me and good for the business.”
‘Surprise bags’ can save shoppers over 50%
Too Good to Go launched in Europe in 2016 and now has 120 million users and 180,000 partners in 21 countries, said Chris MacAulay, vice president of North America. He said the app is available in 62 U.S. cities and plans to be available in just under 70 by the end of the year.
The company said its partners are offering “surprise bags” filled with food through the app at more than 50% off retail price, but often at nearly a third of the original retail price.
In the U.S., users have saved more than $458.9 million on Surprise Bags, according to the company.
Macaulay said customers don’t know what items are inside the surprise bags they buy to pick up at the store, but they typically fall into categories such as produce or frozen items.
“What they know is they’re going to get great value,” Macaulay told USA TODAY.
For retailers, he said, “this is a tremendous win…great food that would normally end up in the (trash) is now finally in the hands of customers.”
Preparing meals using surprise bag ingredients
Hall primarily uses the app to purchase discounted Whole Foods Surprise Bags. He sometimes buys surprise bags from a local bakery.
Hall said it’s a way to supplement her weekly grocery purchases and save money because she doesn’t know what’s in her bag. He also likes the challenge of finding new recipes using what’s in his surprise bag.
Whole Foods recently sold a Surprise Meat Bag for $9.99 worth $30 that contained 5 pounds of chicken that was close to its sell-by date.
Hall froze three pounds and cooked the rest.
“The next day, I made a bunch of chicken quesadillas and put them in burrito bowls with Spanish rice,” he said.
One of the produce bag pickups included lion’s mane mushrooms. This is something Mr. Hall had to look up on the internet.
“I ended up cooking it and using it for steak,” he said. “I love incorporating new things into my cooking.”
Companies make profits by selling surplus goods
Too Good to Go Surprise Bags are available at more than 530 Whole Foods stores nationwide
The bags allow customers to purchase a variety of products that are nearing their “best before” date at a discounted price on higher value items, the retailer told USA TODAY. Surprise bags range in price from $6.99 for a bag of produce valued at $21 to $9.99 for a bag of seafood valued at $30.
The program is part of Whole Foods Market’s broader waste reduction strategy, which also includes donations to food banks and composting programs, the grocer said.
“Our program with Too Good to Go makes it easier for customers to get their favorite products at lower prices while helping to reduce food waste,” Whole Foods Market spokesperson Nathan Cymbala told USA TODAY. “We have seen strong interest since expanding last year and will continue to expand our offering.”
Too Good to Go also helps entrepreneurs connect with new and existing customers while solving the problem of surplus food waste.
Christoph Roberts, founder of Seed Bourglin, a cafe, retail space and art gallery in New York City, said he tries to only have enough baked goods for his customers to buy, but at the end of the day he often has extra items that he doesn’t want to sell at full price the next day.
Roberts told USA TODAY it makes sense to offer baked goods to the community at a deep discount.
“The great thing about this partnership is that we can provide some type of relief and not let it go to waste,” he said.
Roberts said she’s embarrassed to admit that early on as a new entrepreneur, she threw away baked goods that didn’t sell. But since offering baked goods through an app, he said he can potentially attract new customers to his business.
Mr Macaulay acknowledged that there may be some limitations for shoppers with food allergies, as the contents of the bag are surprising. At the time of pickup, customers can ask if there are any items in the bag that contain allergens to which they may be sensitive, and they can also choose not to receive the bag and receive a refund, he said.
Connecting shoppers with businesses is one of several ways businesses can sell or donate surplus food. You can also donate to your local food bank.
Mr Macaulay said the app’s users were not taking money away from other organizations feeding people in need, as there was “so much waste within the food supply ecosystem and supply chain”.
Flashfood allows shoppers to choose the surplus items they want
Another app that shoppers are using specifically to get discounted food from grocery stores is Flashfood. The concept is the same: connecting shoppers with grocery stores with surplus food nearing its expiry date, but the difference is that shoppers can select specific food items offered by the grocery store in the app and pick them up in-store.
FlashFood was founded in Canada about nine years ago and expanded to the central U.S. region about four years ago, CEO Jordan Schenck said.
Schenk said about 40% of the food produced around the world is wasted in categories such as meat, produce and dairy.
“We were founded with a mission to make sure it gets to people’s tables,” Schenck told USA TODAY.
Grocery items that can be purchased at up to 50% off will be entered into the app by grocery store partners at any time of the day. Additionally, you can also purchase produce boxes, which typically contain 10 pounds of fruits and vegetables, at a significant discount.
FlashFood partners with more than 2,000 grocery stores in 28 states and expanded a pilot program with Kroger earlier this year.
“By partnering with FlashFood, we are giving our customers new ways to save on the groceries they need, while ensuring more of the food goes back to its intended purpose: to feed their families,” said Kate Mora, president of Kroger Mid-Atlantic. “This is a win for our customers and a win for our community.”
Schenk said FlashFood has been providing a solution for shoppers to burn through their grocery dollars for years, including after the COVID-19 pandemic when inflation was high, and even more so now.
“The demand on the shopper side to access platforms like FlashFood is very high,” she says.
“There’s a lot of talk and news about what pricing is like in this day and age, and that’s what’s mobilizing a lot of our growth.”
Betty Lin-Fisher is a consumer reporter for USA TODAY. Contact her at blinfisher@USATODAY.com or follow her at @blinfisher on X, Facebook and Instagram and @blinfisher.bsky.social on Bluesky.. Sign up for our free The Daily Money newsletter, breaking down complex consumer and financial news. Subscribe here.
